


Blood Brothers

by tokaku



Category: Tales of Xillia
Genre: Gen, I'm Sorry, Ludger pushing corpses into bodies of water, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-21
Updated: 2015-05-20
Packaged: 2018-03-31 12:41:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3978463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tokaku/pseuds/tokaku
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ludger makes too many sacrifices to keep his brother safe, even giving up on the world. However, the world doesn’t end. What comes after, when the brothers have to live in the world that Bisley created?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blood Brothers

Strangely enough, the fight had not attracted a crowd. The square at Marksburg was as empty of people as it had been before the fight. It was probably understandable; Julius didn’t have any authority or men to use to vacate everyone from the area, but there was the king and the prime minister of Rieze Maxia, either of whom could have thought of giving Julius that last small bit of privacy, and had the sense to move people away from what would only look like suicide or a public execution.

And they had come to the harbor not knowing what exactly to expect aside from what Julius had already told them: that Julius had to die so they could have their soul bridge. They probably thought there would be a complicated ritual, a magic circle like when they summoned Maxwell, anything that would be too big to hide and too suspicious if a number of people saw it. Julius’ mind idly went over the possible excuses that they must have fed people to get them to leave. The simplest was that the Rieze Maxian government was investigating the mysterious object in the sky, and no one was allowed back until experts deemed it was safe to do so. There were always people who would be curious about something like that though, so there must be guards posted somewhere to make sure no one went to the harbor. And that no one came out.

Ludger was half-pulling, half-supporting Julius away from the harbor, without even sparing a glance back to the floating bodies he had pushed into the water. Rollo moved ahead of them, his fur surprisingly clean. The blood had been hastily scrubbed from Ludger’s face, and Julius kept the collar of his coat up, though that could hardly hide the extent of the transformation. 

Part of his face felt like a scabbed wound under his fingers. The pain had mostly receded, probably waiting for the next time he used the chromatus, when no doubt he would turn into a catalyst. But he’d do it for Ludger, so Ludger could get away. Ludger wasn’t thinking of his actions now, but they couldn’t run from what had been done here. Julius gave them five to ten minutes they could be together like this before they were arrested or someone tried to kill them on the spot.

Ludger shortened that to four by leaving his side.

He was gone for only a little under a minute though, going back to where he’d left Julius leaning on a post, and leading him quickly through a route he had apparently secured for them. The throat of one guard was cut cleanly, but the others were more of a mess. Looking at the way the bodies were sprawled told Julius what Ludger had done step by step. The second victim, after the one with the cut throat, had a wound in the stomach that would have given him a few painful minutes to die, and Ludger compensated for the unthinking cruelty with a sledgehammer to the head. The next two were dispatched better. The last guard, at a greater distance from the others, had her head almost completely off her shoulders; desperation maybe, when Ludger realized that she was going to get away to alert someone and he made the blow too strong. There was no question that all of the guards were dead.

Ludger kept his head bowed for most of that walk, hushing Rollo to avoid looking at Julius. After everything, Ludger seemed to think Julius might judge him for what he did to the guards. The emotions that chased after each other on his face when Ludger finally did look up were confusing enough: worry, defeat, but also panic and embarrassment, as if he still expected that Julius would be grading him on a test. And then Julius realized that that was what he was doing, and he stopped looking too much at the bodies around and automatically deducing what Ludger did wrong for five people to have taken that long.

There was probably something wrong about how Ludger was adjusting to the situation so easily. Julius was even more surprised that Rollo hadn’t left them.

“Sorry for all the trouble,” Julius said quietly. 

Ludger shook his head. “It’s…” No, it’s not nothing. It’s the furthest it could be from nothing. Ludger caught himself, swallowed the rest of the lie.

They were quiet after that.

 

There were fewer guards than Julius expected. Someone must have thought that stationing a lot of guards around would seem suspicious. And Ludger’s friends had trusted Julius, or at the very least their own abilities if they had to fight. They probably didn’t expect that from Ludger either. Julius tried not to think of the look on little Alvie’s face, not so much resignation as a wry sort of understanding when Ludger had gotten close enough to push his hand with the gun aside. There was only a slight hesitation, Ludger’s grip on his sword tightening, and then he moved slightly back while bringing the blade up and across in a smooth arc, the movement so quick Julius didn’t think that the girl running towards them even saw it. The one with the healing artes, which probably explained why Ludger went after her next. She hadn’t screamed. At least, when Ludger dreams about this later, he wouldn’t have to remember screaming.

 

Julius was not surprised when Ludger’s next action was to steal a boat, but he was surprised when Ludger spat on the sea behind them for good luck. The Rieze Maxians were more respectful of nature, but some Elympion sailors did that. But then, Ludger had been traveling.

 

They skirted around the villages. Even with the tourists, foreigners would have been easily marked, and they had no way of knowing how much people knew. Ludger’s main objective seemed to be putting distance between them and Marksburg, keeping them moving. Julius would sometimes pass out while they were walking. Once, he woke up with Ludger carrying him awkwardly on his back, and another time, he was already under a tree in a pool of blankets Ludger had gotten from somewhere, Ludger with his back to him, keeping watch.

Later, they stumbled across a bandit camp. The bandits were deserters from a Rieze Maxian army, the symbols of their allegiance unstitched from their uniforms, but they were carrying all their practical weapons with them, well-used blades heavier than the ones Ludger used, and the short staves they used to cast artes. Ludger dealt with them, too, and would have rolled them into a nearby pond before Julius stopped him by saying that would foul the water. Ludger had removed the coat of the biggest bandit and bundled Julius up in it, as if he needed more protection from the weather.

When the bodies started to smell in the morning, Ludger looked around the camp for things they could use, finally getting a bigger bag to keep their things, a pot and pan, and a roll of bandages, which he washed in boiled water first. Before leaving though, they had breakfast. Ludger had crammed some of the bandits’ bread into the bag, but prepared some soup with meat and some vegetables from the bandits’ store.

On what was probably the fourth or fifth day, Ludger fell asleep across Julius’ legs. Rollo had stolen the more comfortable position on Julius’ lap, but Ludger had probably been too tired to mind his own uncomfortable position. His head was turned to the side, facing Julius, and he was drooling a little onto the grass under his cheek. Julius idly brushed Ludger’s hair away from his face and tucked it behind his ear. His other hand was mostly useless now, but the transformation wasn’t progressing as rapidly as he thought it would. It made sense, since Julius had not needed to use the chromatus even once.

It seemed unbelievable that they were actually running away. Marksburg would have attracted a great deal of attention by now. Rieze Maxia was hit harder, so even if the incident was not tied back to Julius and Ludger, there would be rumors about Elympion assassins, or Elympios moving in to invade. The chancellor Marcia would be busy trying to quell those fears. With enough people backing her, the chancellor could bring about more unity if Rieze Maxian insurgents were blamed, and the king and prime minister made out to be tragic heroes. Julius didn’t know if there was a strong enough figure left on the side of Rieze Maxia to take advantage of the situation. 

And there was Spirius to consider, too. He had heard from Jude Mathis that Bisley had left Ludger in charge, at least outwardly. The agents understood that he was to be protected and restrained as a puppet, but the rest of the company and anyone else from outside who might have been interested in the company’s politics would know Ludger as the new vice president, personally appointed by Bisley Karcsy Bakur. If Ludger was found to have killed the group in Marksburg during the time when he should have still been holding that position, Spirius would have a hard time explaining it. The Elympion government can use that to finally have the excuse to pressure Spirius and break free from Spirius control. And Bisley wouldn’t be around to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Bisley’s head secretary was capable, but there was still a power vacuum. If it was not filled, in-fighting and enemies from outside would destroy Spirius. There was a certain grim pleasure to be taken from something like that, if Julius was not too aware of Spirius’ role in protecting the prime dimension and in helping develop human talent and technology. Even if the Trial was decided in favor of humanity, the world would only see one disaster after another without Spirius. 

So much at stake, and Julius knew he could never be worth it. In the end, right now, he was only worth something to a single person.

 

It was late afternoon by the time Ludger woke up. He left their makeshift camp to get them something to eat, then washed and bandaged Julius’ arm. It was meaningless, and probably an extravagant use of bandages when they couldn’t be sure if Ludger would later need them, but Julius allowed him to. Ludger’s touch lingered on Julius’ hand, the pads of his fingers pressing into Julius’ palm as if seeking for the scar tissue from that one wound he’d received protecting Ludger. He would hardly find the faint depression now. And Julius couldn’t really feel his hand anymore.

They waited until night before they stole across Nia Khera to get to the path to the shrine, and from there to a cave in the Hallowmont. It was Ludger’s idea. Even the keepers of the shrine normally didn’t venture into the Hallowmont, and few pilgrims entered Milla’s Shrine, content with making the journey to Nia Khera. The monsters around kept Ludger busy for a while. The steps to the shrine shouldn’t have been difficult to climb, but even with Ludger to lean on, Julius had gotten so tired he’d fallen asleep right after Ludger had nudged him into a small cave. Much later, after what was both a late dinner and an early breakfast of skewered meat, they climbed farther up and sat on the edge of a huge outcropping of rock to watch the sun rise.

Julius looked at Ludger, who only seemed tired, sleepy, content. There were flecks of blood on the collar of his untucked shirt, and blood matting his hair, very noticeable. He had found a stream to wash his hands in, but it was obvious Ludger wasn’t worrying about his appearance right now. He looked younger like this somehow, dirty brown rings under his fingernails and all.

“How long has it been?” Julius asked. When Ludger only looked at him, Julius added, hating himself more for it, “Since Marksburg.”

The pause was probably out of respect for his dead friends, though Julius could tell Ludger wasn’t really surprised by the question. “Almost a week. Six days now.”

“Even with the time distortion inside the Land of Canaan, there would only be a week at most until the Trial is over. We’ll know either way if humanity passes.”

He didn’t say that they had already failed. But that was the thought that Ludger latched onto anyway, because he said, “So the world’s ending?”

It was too late, but the day was long enough, and they had run far enough that they could simply sit back now and wait for the world to end. Because it wouldn’t matter anyway, Julius put his hand above Ludger’s on the ground, squeezing, keeping it there until the sun had risen and Ludger jokingly complained that the grit was making his palm feel itchy. 

After that, they went back to the cave. Julius sat down with his back against the wall. Not so much sitting as collapsing onto his knees, Ludger followed. He shifted to be closer to Julius, and without saying anything, pressed his face against Julius’ shoulder. Julius started humming the old lullaby for him, and he felt Ludger’s lips quirk up in a flash of amusement that gradually changed to a more dull contentment: home. When Ludger fisted his hands in Julius’ shirt, Julius patted his back comfortingly. And finally Ludger was sobbing, shaking a bit as he tried not to make a sound, tears making Julius’ shirt wet. But even then, Ludger was careful with the bandages underneath, only holding onto his shirt in a death-grip. Julius continued to hum the song.

 

Later, or at the same instant, or before, in a different plane of existence where time had rewound several times but finally stopped, a little girl died without anyone to hum her the song.

**Author's Note:**

> Just in case this needs clarification: This follows the Julius Ending, where Ludger gives up on Canaan and Bisley finishes the Trial instead with Elle. I shouldn't be writing this when I have another multi-chapter fic I haven't finished yet, but yeah.


End file.
